The real problem here is the way that the BLM is organized. If you look at the other land management agencies like the Forest Service, Park Service and Fish and Wildlife Service, you will see that they are regionalized. Their regions often cover more that one state. But the BLM has a director in every state and their offices are really run by the congressional delegations.
When I was BLM director in the 90's for President Clinton I thought the system was bad. A case in point was the intern programs run for the congressional offices. Senator Pete Domenici would always have a BLM employee interning in his office. When the one or two year term was up he would have them placed in New Mexico in high ranking positions. He then got what ever he wanted from them. I had attempted to stop this practice by making all interns ineligible to serve in the state of the congressional offices where they interned. Of course that went nowhere with the Clinton White House and Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, as he did to all his employees, never backed us up.
The BLM need to regionalize along some well thought out ecosystem parameters. The Colorado Plateau could be one for example. That would include portions of four conner states. This might slightly depoliticize the agency and take away undue influence from single lawmakers. And the BLM need to go after people like Bundy in the courts. He is a thief and should be treated like one.
2 comments:
AMEN! Public land ranching is "different" ranching from others. The, in essence, get very, very cheap grazing. All at taxpayer expense.
What’s wrong with this picture?
Allow me to indulge on responding to Ms. McClure’s
“Rumors of Albuquerque” piece at http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/news/2014/04/28/mcclure-rumors-of-albuquerque-s-demise-are-greatly.html.
Food for thought:
1) Is this article part of the Martinez/Berry financier’s PR campaign?
2) Is it also “rumor” that this same media outlet reported the loss of 1,000 construction jobs the same day at http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/news/2014/04/28/albuquerque-state-continue-to-shed-construction.html?
3) What kind of backdoor deal is Berry, who is desperate to try to take the eyes off APD, willing to do for media attention as part of his PR campaign, as noted that they finally cut a deal on the recreational complex in this article: http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/news/2014/04/28/city-buys-81-acres-for-westside-recreational.html. And our print and TV media outlets have made it a higher priority in this type of reporting while downgrading the reality about the problems we have here in the last week. Are we buying the Hitleresque propaganda?
4) Have you noticed all of the media attention of the retail chains that have made announcements that they are coming to Albuquerque in the last week? I think we’d better look into what kind of deals Berry is cutting and how much it’s going to cost citizens. Why should we pay for his desperate moves to stay in power?
5) Go to swmls.com and watch each week as the asking prices for homes in your area are dropping and still not selling. You can also view the “Market Statistics” at this site. It’s very revealing about how this is a hidden cost to all of the citizens which will take years to recover due to this inept leadership.
6) Cameras over words and truth over fiction. I’ll be glad to take video of all of the commercial buildings and strip malls that are vacant and boarded up and post it on YouTube for anyone to see reality about what is going on in Albuquerque. I suspect Ms. McClure was part of the generation where parents taught their children they are “special” and the importance of “feel good” self esteem rather than dealing with reality and working hard to earn their reward. If you live in an “anti-depressant, pill-popping, everything’s going to be okay” optimism vs. reality, things will not get better. Hard work and determinism to fight our way out of a dark situation, both with APD and the city and state economy, is what will allow Albuquerque to be “in reality” a great place to live.
Pictures are worth 1,000 words and unless a person is delusional, one can’t make it look like something it’s not.
The solution:
1) It starts with recalling Berry and electing a new governor in November.
2) Demand leaders and government employees with decision-making authority to have integrity and whose priority is with the citizens rather than their special interests.
And if we don’t, no matter how much we try to “feel good” about Albuquerque and NM, it will “in reality” get much, much worse.
UNITE and WORK HARD to fix this dark moment in Albuquerque and New Mexico’s history. Then the pictures and the words will coincide and permit us to “in reality” feel good about where we live.
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